


As It Should Be

by MusicalLuna



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bots Feels, Episode Tag, F/M, Family, Fluff, Happy Ending, Iron Man 3, Iron Man 3 Compliant, Iron Man 3 Spoilers, One Big Happy Family, Post Iron Man 3, The Bots are Tony's Kids, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony and his Bots - Freeform, bots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-24
Updated: 2014-01-24
Packaged: 2018-01-09 20:28:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1150458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalLuna/pseuds/MusicalLuna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the wake of Iron Man 3, there are three things Tony still needs to take care of. Three 'bots, to be specific.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As It Should Be

**Author's Note:**

  * For [windscryer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/windscryer/gifts).



"I'm here! I'm here! Tony, wait!" Pepper calls breathlessly as she comes clattering—elegantly, elegantly, obviously—down the stairs, not unlike an, ah, extremely elegant baby deer.  
  
Tony grins and rests his chin on his forearm as he watches her, head tipping to the side.  
  
She comes flying through the doorway, out of breath, little curly cues of ginger hair falling into her face, and Tony loves her so much it makes his heart squeeze tight in his chest. It has a lot more room to do that nowadays. He brushes the tips of his fingers over it, over the slight recess in the center of his chest where the arc reactor used to be housed, where now there's nothing but bone material substitute and a circular graft of skin overtop. Those scars combined with the ones from Afghanistan make it look a lot like he's got a starburst embedded into his flesh. It's grisly, and kinda cool all at once.  
  
"Hi," he says, and Pepper blushes, straightening up and trying to _casually_ brush her hair back into place.  
  
"Um. Hi. You haven't done it yet, have you," she says, already knowing the answer.  
  
Tony grins. "Nope. Waiting on you."  
  
The blush grows a little deeper and seeps down her throat, which is a path he wouldn't mind tracing himself, but that'll have to wait. He waves her forward and pushes up off the chair. She holds out a hand as she approaches and he takes it, reeling her in to kiss her, because, well, come on, he's only a man.  
  
When they part, she opens her eyes slowly, dreamily, and her fingers curl in the hair at the nape of his neck, sending tingles down his spine. "I love you," she says.  
  
"And I love you," he replies, lifting her hands together so he can kiss her knuckles. She's hardly warm at all anymore. "You ready?"  
  
Pepper nods eagerly and looks around.  
  
Tony slips his hand free and moves to his knees by the three chassis sitting in the middle of the cluttered lab space and reaches around, fishing for a second to find the switch. His fingers find it, flicking it to 'on' and the metal hums with a faint vibration as DUM-E boots up. He reaches around U next and does the same, soothing his hand over his arm, and then finally Butterfingers.  
  
"The bots are coming online, Sir," JARVIS reports and Tony shuffles back to give them a little room. Pepper steps up behind him, her hand squeezing his shoulder.  
  
After half a minute, DUM-E shifts his arm groggily, claw turning as he takes his first look around the new workshop in the Tower. Then he abruptly stiffens and his arm shoots sideways, nearly slamming right into U's.  
  
"DUM-E!" Tony exclaims, pushing to his feet. "Hey, hey, hey, buddy, it's okay, you're okay."  
  
But DUM-E continues to flail, jerking back and forth in the station as he tries to move.  
  
"He has not registered his surroundings, Sir," JARVIS says quickly. "He still is in the moment when the Malibu mansion collapsed."  
  
U and Butterfingers are twitching erratically, too, now, though not nearly as panicked as DUM-E.  
  
Tony catches him by the strut and manages to pull his arm around, looking straight into the camera. "DUM-E, DUM-E, you're okay, I'm okay. Everybody's okay, you hear me? Tell JARVIS the date, okay?"  
  
DUM-E hesitates, claw reaching to close very gently around Tony's jaw.  
  
"That is correct, DUM-E. The date is February third, 2013," JARVIS says, warm and gentle, and totally for Tony's benefit.  
  
Then U and Butterfingers catch on, too, and Tony's got a claw on his arm and leg, too. He smiles, a hard lump forming like a bubble in his throat. "Hey, guys, there you go. Hi. I missed you, too."  
  
All three of them whirr and chirp at him, tugging him closer and he laughs, a little wetly.  
  
"That's right, Daddy's home." And then he remembers Pepper.  
  
He twists around—with some difficulty, the boys are being clingy, pulling at his clothes—and reaches out for her. "Hey, you're ready to be a mom, right, Pep?"  
  
Pepper huffs out a laugh. Her cheeks and nose are pink, freckles standing out vividly, eyes glossy. "I don't know, Tony..." she says, slightly congested. "That might be too much responsibility for me."  
  
He barks out a laugh. "Too much responsibilit—get over here and join in the extremely cold and hard-edged cuddle pile."  
  
She moves hesitantly, but when he takes her hand, the bots react just as enthusiastically to her, whirring and chirping and flailing around. Pepper laughs and shakes her head and kisses each one of them on the arm just below the claw. "It's good to have you back," she says. "Tony's been hopeless without you."  
  
"Hey!" he protests and has to fight back a grin at the way the bots preen and coo, moving to clutch at him again. "She's a liar," he says, "who are you going to believe, me or her, you useless hunks of junk?"  
  
With a note of laughter in his voice that really shouldn't be there, JARVIS says, "They say _her_ , Sir, quite vehemently—and in unison."  
  
"Traitors," Tony declares, and couldn't be happier.


End file.
